Before

In the process

Complete


E-brake cable relief bracket

Bolt On Panhard drop down bracket


Now w/ BFG AT 33x10.50's


I still need to make the front SB disco's (stock ones, lengthen and make into disco's), and bump stops for the upper a-arms to limit down travel, similar to the 2nd gens, but using poly bump stops.

 

lookin right nice. did you just use spacers with no increased coils? my suggestion would be to get some mudflaps asap. those bfg at suck up rocks and spit them out big time, and will make short work of your paint towards the rear door.

 

Nice looking 4Runner!

yep, I just got the same tires (same size too) and they fling rocks like crazy.
In the one week i've had them, i've already noticed a lot of added paint chips.

 

I still have stock coils. This is the wife's truck, and I went w/ this set up to give a nice subtle ride. Besides the feeling of being higher it drives the same. I have the Bilstiens which are around an inch longer and the Daystar spacers give to much droop w/ the longer shock. Most people go w/ a limiting strap to cure this, but I plan on using bump stops for the upper a-arms.

Yes, I do plan on getting front mud flaps, as well as rock guards. I have had AT's before and know all about picking pebbles out from the tread.

I went the cheapest route in a small town, and got the tires at Walmart. I knew it would be a hassle, which it was. They just aren't truck people there. They installed them at 40psi all around, where they got that number I don't know. I think only 4" of tread was hitting the ground, and they actually told me to keep an eye on tire pressure. I put them down to 24psi front and 26psi rear, and they are still slightly overinflated.

 

Your rig looks very schweet.

 

Are those two bolts the only thing holding on the panhard drop bracket? I wouldn't feel comfortable with that little bolt, I can easily see that thing being sheared right off. The axle probably won't fall off because of the big main bolt, but with the little bolt broken the bracket will wiggle around and damage the stock mounting location.

I suggest you weld that sucker.

 

Yep, weld on the panhard.

I also sell discos that require no modification and reuse the OEM bushings for the front sway bar. On the link in my sig under "products".

 

That little stainless bolt-there are 2 of them(one on each side). I don't see the panhard putting that much stress on the bracket. It's a panhard bar, not a control arm. It controls axle shimmy, and does not recieve that much load. There are many "bolt on" panhard retrofit kits. Plus many name brand lift kits use bolt on brakets that recieve huge amount of stress. On my bracket, the main bolt does most of the work and little ones are there for support. I have access to a welder, and I still don't think I even need a tack weld. So what if the 2 stainless bolts do "shear", well then I will go from there. If they do while driving it will not cause me to crach, no big deal.

-Wabbit, no offense, but I don't like the design of your disco's. Plus they are to much for me.

 

Yea that does look nice!! Good job!! How does the ride feel now??

 

The ride feels the same as before, just that you sit a little higher (that's why I went w/ Daystar spacers). I've had the Bilstiens on for a year, and that much improved the ride of the stock springs.

 

Who made that bracket? The only one I've seen like that before was made by Anthony at NE and it was crap. He stole the design from Steve Schaefer, and insisted that it was okay without welding it. Wrong. You need to weld it. I tried running one like that for awhile without welding it and all it did was cause problems. You would be surprised, but it's true, until you weld it, the panhard bar will cause it to shift back and forth.

 

Here's my drop down bracket on my 90 Runner from Downey!
[IMG][/IMG]

 

Yeah, and it looks like that Downey bracket has an extension that helps to prevent shifting.

 

1. I made the bracket

2. The only way for it to shift is for it to break the two small stainless support bolts. Untill both bolts break, it's not shifting or moving at all!!

3. Like I said earlier, I have access to a welder, but choose not to. I have no doubt in the strength of my design.

 

I don't see any extension on the Downey bracket, looks like it uses just 1 bolt. Looks like my bracket has more support than a product from Downey.

 

If you look more closely you'll see that the bracket extends up past the frame mount to prevent lateral movement. That is the issue you will run into. How do I know? Because I ran one of the exact same design and no matter how tight we got the bolts, the lateral force on the bracket WILL cause it to shift.

 

then again, since you have access to a welder, you can always do it later once you start to notice the shifting.

 

rOcky-WHAT R U TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!

The only way for it to shift is for the two small bolts to break in half, why don't you comprehend that?

 

If you insist...just be aware that 2 mechanical engineers just told you to weld it. And yes, the panhard is a control arm...it locates the axle side to side so everytime you take a corner hard could apply as much or more than 2000lbs of force on the panhard. Because of the length of the drop you have a lever arm of about 3 inches. The little bolts are about 1 inch away which means that 2000lbs just got multiplied by 3 to 6000lbs of shearing force. Add to that hundreds of thousands of fatigue cycles and it's an accident waiting to happen. I haven't even started with the forces the panhard sees while off road...

The difference between your bracket and the downey one is the lever arm and top bolt (not seen in the picture above) is in tension.

 

Why are you being so rude? People are trying to help you! What am I talking about? I'll tell you - I'M TALKING ABOUT HAVING RUN THE EXACT SAME PANHARD BRACKET AND EXPERIENCING THE SHIFTING FIRSTHAND. I was trying to help you by letting you know that no matter how tight you get it, it will eventually start to wear things down until it begins to shift. I am not the only one telling you this!!!